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WIMBLEDON

June 25, 2010

Vera Zvonareva

LONDON, ENGLAND

V. ZVONAREVA/Y. Wickmayer
6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Just talk about your level. You have to be happy with that.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Obviously, you know, Yanina is a tough opponent, and I'm happy to win, and to win in two sets. Especially since last year, if I remember, last years I had to withdraw in my third round. I'm happy I was able to play today. I played I think pretty good match.

Q. What do you think you did overall that was so good today?
VERA ZVONAREVA: I think there were moments -- you know, you could always say that maybe I double faulted a little bit too many times today. But I did serve well when I needed it. I think that was good.
Also, I was able to, you know, return well, I think, today. Even sometimes I had some mistakes, but I kept doing what I had to do, and eventually paid off. I was able to break a couple times.
I think I was able to put a good intensity and go for my shots a little bit better, not to hesitate. Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Q. Are you healthy enough now and motivated enough and strong enough to get back to the level where you were before you had the injury?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Yeah, you know, finally I think I feel good. Couple of minor things, but every single tennis player experiences those. But I can say finally I'm healthy and finally I can put up a good work.
You know, I'm looking forward to improve my game and get back to that level where I was before.

Q. How long have you felt that way? Because your results since the spring have not been that great. Roland Garros was not as good as you can play, and Eastbourne.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Uh-huh, well, Eastbourne was a tough match. Maria Jose is very tough on the grass; it was very close match. That was actually one of the good matches, I think. Yeah, I could have used couple of opportunities, but it's minor things. I think I was already able to put a better level than the whole clay court season.
Yeah, you're right, clay court season wasn't great for me. I think it was mentally tough for me playing on the clay, and I think I can realize it better now than I was there.
Now at least I know what I have to work on for the next year for the clay court season and how I have to prepare myself.

Q. You probably heard this from some of your compatriots, but two years ago there were six Russian women in the top 10; now there's only one, Elena. Is it because of age or injuries? Why do you think that's happening?
VERA ZVONAREVA: You know, you cannot be on top of your game and play the best tennis the whole career. It happened that all of us were playing very good tennis at the same time and get into the top 10. It's not easy. It's very, very hard.
Now it seems like quite a few players got injured, like you can see with Dinara was struggling a lot, I was struggling, and other players as well. You know, injuries, they always put you back a little bit, and it's tough to recover.
I think one of the best players who can do it very well is Serena, because she's not able to play for a long time due to injuries and then come back and still play very strong.
But, um, otherwise, injuries always tough to recover from. It seems like we all got -- even Elena, you know, she couldn't come here and play here. She had to withdraw in a semifinal of a Grand Slam.
So I think it's just a coincidence of everything together: everyone being in the great form and then everyone suddenly getting injured at the same time. It's a little bit downhill, maybe.
But I'm sure all of us, we're good players, and I'm sure we will get back to that level.

Q. There was also a time when you would have three players and you would have a couple more come up and replace them. You'd have someone that was 21, 22, 23. Now you have Kleybanova, Pavlyuchenkova maybe coming up to the level of top 20, top 10. Do you see them as being real elite players, or do we still have to wait and see on them?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Well, think they're coming close to that. You can also see I think Anastasia, I think, she beat Venus back-to-back last year. Two great wins is not easy, so being definitely see the potential out there.
And Alisa, she already has a lot of top 10 wins under her belt. So I think they are up there. It's just a very thin line between the players becoming one of the top 10 players and maybe being ranked 30. Maybe they will need just a little bit more experience. But both of them are very good players.

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